


Alone Together

by semperama



Series: Tumblr Ficlets - Pinto [33]
Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Accidental Kissing, M/M, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semperama/pseuds/semperama
Summary: When they start counting down in the other room, he and Chris lock eyes again, but this time it feels a little more awkward. Zach has no idea what to do at midnight. Go in for a hug? Just say, “Happy New Year” and leave it at that?





	Alone Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elisa_pie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisa_pie/gifts).



> This was written for a New Year's Eve prompt from @elisa-pie, who wanted accidental kissing.

The kitchen rendezvous is almost tradition at this point. Zach can think of dozens of parties like this one where he gets up to refill his drink and finds Chris leaning against the counter, hiding from everyone. Recharging, he calls it. The first time Zach caught him at it, he tried to slip away and leave him to his alone time, but Chris insisted he stay, and since then they’ve spent many an hour together reclining against granite counters, keeping watch over coolers of beer and forgotten cheese plates.

Tonight, Zach doesn’t need another drink—he’s toasted enough already—but it’s minutes to midnight and Chris is nowhere to be found, so he heads to the kitchen on instinct and isn’t surprised to find Chris bent in half with his forearms on the countertop, fiddling with his phone.

“I see you’ve found a more interesting way to spend your time,” Zach teases as he sidles up next to him. He leans back against the counter just as Chris looks up, grinning.

“There you are,” he says, like he’s been waiting for Zach for hours. Like it wouldn’t have been easier to go back out to the party and find him. “Nah, I was starting to get a headache…and then I got bored.”

He sets his phone face down and straightens up, and they are face to face now, a little too close, but Chris doesn’t back away so Zach doesn’t either. He braces his hands behind him and shrugs his shoulders up around his ears and tries to remember how to smile naturally.

“You’re going to miss the countdown in here.”

Chris grimaces. “The new year will come whether I’m out there letting people scream in my ears or not.”

“Sometimes I think you were born an old man,” Zach says, as if it isn’t one of the things he likes most about him. “Why not just spend the night at home then?”

“Not sure.” He shrugs. “You seemed like you wanted me to come.”

Of course Zach wanted him to come. He wants to soak up every minute of Chris’s time that he can get. They don’t spend enough time with each other these days, and it’s even more rare that they get to celebrate a holiday together. Even standing this close to Chris for a couple minutes, Zach feels like he’s recharging himself. Chris may need his alone time, but Zach needs his Chris time.

But he can’t say that. Instead, he claps Chris on the shoulder. “It’s my job to make sure you have fun sometimes. You have had fun, right?”

“I’ve had fun, Zach,” Chris says, a little too gently for Zach’s liking. “You should get back out there. Don’t let me ruin the big moment for you.”

“It’s fine. I’m happy to keep you company.” More than happy. Chris might be on to something in avoiding the yelling and unwanted kissing. There are times when Zach wants to party hard, recapture his fading youth, but right now being here in the quiet with Chris seems far more appealing. His lingering buzz is evidence that he’s had enough partying for the night anyway.

“One minute!” someone yells from the other room, and he and Chris roll their eyes at each other in tandem.

Chris takes a drink from the half-full beer bottle sitting next to him on the counter, then checks his phone again. Zach pulls out his own phone and scrolls through a few Happy New Year text messages before putting it back in his pocket. When they start counting down in the other room, he and Chris lock eyes again, but this time it feels a little more awkward. Zach has no idea what to do at midnight. Go in for a hug? Just say, “Happy New Year” and leave it at that? And he and Chris are still standing a little too close—close enough that Chris’s thigh brushes his when he shifts.

Before Zach has time to think it through, the moment is here. Noise erupts in the other room, and Chris is smiling at him and shifting closer. _Closer._ Impossibly close, his hand coming up to Zach’s shoulder. Confused and panicking and unsure what to do, Zach turns his head toward Chris and then their mouths are brushing, the barest hint of a kiss that Zach nevertheless feels all the way to the tips of his toes.

He realizes a moment too late that Chris was going in for a hug.

“Shit.” He pulls away, turns his face away so he doesn’t have to see the expression on Chris’s face. “Shit, I’m sorry, man. I—” _I’ve had too much to drink. I wasn’t thinking._ There are a million excuses, and Chris would probably accept them, but Zach is too freaked out to get any of them out of his mouth. Chris must have felt how much he wanted that, how desperate he was to believe that Chris felt the same way.

“Zach,” Chris says softly.

“I just…I thought you…”

He tries to step away, but Chris moves to stop him, caging him against the counter with his arms. “Zach,” he says again, “chill. It’s fine.”

“No. What? Come on. It’s not fi—”

And then Chris’s mouth is on his again, and this time it can’t be an accident. This time Chris’s mouth is firm against his, not slack with shock. This time Chris is leaning in to him and moving a hand up to his neck, slipping a thumb up under his jaw. Zach has to curl his fingers into Chris’s shirt to keep himself on his feet as his brain scrambles to catch up.

“Zach,” Chris whispers, against his lips this time.

That shakes something loose in Zach, makes him groan and reel Chris in by his waist and crush their mouths together. He can’t stop himself from smiling when Chris kisses him back just as enthusiastically, cradling Zach’s face in his hands. Chris starts to laugh—a happy laugh—but Zach won’t let him pull away, not yet. He can’t think of a better way to start the new year, and he doesn’t want it to end.


End file.
